How Important is Humidity?

I for one think that there is too much emphasis placed on the importance of humidity. Granted, my experience with ball pythons is limited compared to a few other members on here, but despite the fact that I own very few balls, I have owned them for quite a long time. I only bump up humidity when my ball is in shed and the weather is very dry, otherwise I pay little to no attention to it. None of my animals has ever had a retained eye cap, a stuck shed, or a respiratory infection.

On the other hand, a friend of mine who wanted to be very attentive to her new pet ball was very interested in the humidity. I told her what I'd heard; that higher humidity is better for the most part (60 - 80%). She would spray the tank down with water, put a wet towel on top etc when it dipped below that. The snake got pneumonia and died before it was a year old. Another friend of mine who was mostly interested in frogs and amphibians had a snake that was troubled for years by respiratory infections. He thought the species was just prone to that ailment; I thought he kept his humidity too high.

I can't help but believe that high humidity does more damage than good to these snakes. Bacteria love hot, damp places. What happens to a ball with high humidity? It can get scale rot, mouth rot, RIs and the like. What happens when the humidity is too low? Bad sheds, and that's pretty much the end of it. What do you guys think? Has your snake ever gotten sick from being too dry?

I don't pay any attention to humidity either. I used to when I used tanks, but now that I use tubs I know my humidity is within reason. I've never had a snake with scale rot, RI, Retained Eye caps, or stuck sheds. But I haven't been owning snakes for a long time.

However, when I worked part time at a pet store, they kept their Balls in aquariums with screen tops. Needless to say the snakes never shed right and always had retained eye caps. I had to deal with an RI while I was there as well. So who knows?

In my opinion the humidity only needs to be around 40-50% thats where mine usually stays and all 17 of my bps shed in 1 piece 99% of the time and I have never had a RI. I would say as long as they are not having issues with shedding then your humidity is high enough.

Humidity in my tubs is between 65%-70% all the time, we stopped measuring the humidity after a while.
Never had any health issues or shed issues.

If that person had it only at 60%, then they had some other problems for their ball python to get pneumonia. Probably the spraying and wet towels lowing heat, I don't think anyone should need to spray the tank to raise humidity...

I get one or two RIs every other season, and they always show up when the weather cools, and the air gets drier indoors. Humid air, no problems.
RIs can be cleared up with a course of antibiotics if caught early. I have to wonder if it was a bacterial RI, if her snake died. It can happen, but rarely happens if the snake is properly treated.
I think that cool temperatures are the biggest risk factor for RIs. The cool side of a cage or bin can drop a bit too low, and the animals become more susceptible. I do think proper humidity is important for good long term health. If the snake is not having bad sheds, then the humidity is fine. If it is having sheds in pieces or stuck, then the humidity is too low, period. A snake should never have a bad shed, because a bad shed means that the animal is dehydrated. Be sure to keep fresh water available, and humidity high enough to prevent dehydration. Obviously dehydration is bad for health!

Question:
I use a glass aquarium with a Zilla screen top. When my snakes are in shed I usually mist in their tank a lot and also mist the towel on top.
Otherwise the humidity dips to 39 or lower--and after I spray it's still near impossible to get it up to 70%.
I also leave a light on one part of the cage so they don't get too cold, and they have their heat mat.
One of my ball pythons keeps having bad sheds.
So what should I do? I think this is a humidity problem. I agree with the OP that worrying too much is bad but not worrying enough I think is just as bad. I don't worry except when they're shedding.
But what do you do if you ARE keeping them in glass aquarium tanks with screen tops? I know someone mentioned lots of RI's. How do you stop that? :(
Shellie

I keep all my bps in racks on unprinted newspaper, which is bone dry. I only spray everything down when they are in blue or in the shedding process itself (if I didn't catch them I blue). No problems here.

Shellie,

Have a look at this sticky.


dr del

I think the Ball Pythons natural habitat humidity is probably the best answer to the question of what is correct and best for the snake.

one of my bp's get pissed off and dumps her ENTIRE water bowl (which is big, cuz she's kinda large) out if the humidity gets under like 75%. I keep the levels at 60% for my other, and 80% for her (mainly so I don't have to keep cleaning out her cage - she was on paper towls).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ash

I can't help but believe that high humidity does more damage than good to these snakes.

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Low humidity and cold temps are much worse than high humidity.
My tubs are usually around 60% till I push the water bowl over the heat and it goes up to 75 to 80 percent.
Never had an RI but I don't let ambient temps go under 75 either.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ash

I told her what I'd heard; that higher humidity is better for the most part (60 - 80%).

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Not sure where you heard that. Steady humidity levels around 45%-50% are fine...and can be bumped to around 60% for a shed phase if necessary. Maintaining a constant level above 60% is not necessary and too much humidity can cause its own problems.

Still...overall, I'd rather err on the side of a little too humid than too dry. You say you don't pay attention to it...but you don't say what your average humidity levels are. They may naturally stay at the moderate level needed to have healthy sheds. (And lucky you that they do!)

I know for sure if I don't pay attention to it, especially now that I'm in Colo Sprgs where the air is very dry...my poor babies have VERY tough sheds. Our first shedding cycle here was a mess. Haven't had a second cycle yet since we moved...but I can promise you I'm paying a lot more attention to it.

To the OP:

You don't pay attention to your humidity, but then again you live in So-Cal..

I start complaining about MY discomfort with the lack of humidity in our Minnesota winters. We had 5% humidity for much of last winter, and that's when I've experienced bad ball python sheds. I no longer keep BPs, but if I was, I would HAVE to have a generous amount of moistened sphagnum moss in their cage during winter to keep humidity at bare minimum levels.

Too wet is bad. Too dry is bad. I think that the care sheets probably could use tweaking.

Personal experience - ALL 3 of my bp's stopped eating on their first winter when humidity in their tanks dropped to 10% when I turned the heat lamp on to raise ambient temps. It took me a while to figure out how to keep their tanks at a steady 55% - about a month. A week of stable 55% humidity and all 3 of them started to eat. 2 of them were under 600grams, 1 was 900 grams at that time.

I pay attention to humidity. Always.